The Gard appellation is evolving its identity and image to refocus around its terroir and the move upmarket of its wines. The dual influence of the minerality of its rolled pebbles and the freshness of the sea breezes is highlighted.
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The end of pink, but not rosé for Costières de Nîmes. For many years, the image of the Gard appellation has been closely associated with the fuschia pink which adorns their logo adorned with the iconic crocodile and palm tree of Nîmes. “At the time of maturity of an appellation almost 40 years old”as its president Cyril Marès reminds us (the AOC is 38 years old, editor’s note), the winegrowers of the appellation have chosen to say goodbye to flashy to turn towards more sobriety and “highlighting the terroir”supports the president who ensures that “it’s a molt more than a mutation, while the pink, although very visible, stuck us a little too much in one segment”.
Committed for several years to a qualitative evolution, the winegrowers worked for a year to leave “the lightness, and perhaps the lack of seriousness in the image” pink to accompany the rise in quality of the appellation’s wines. With more sober tones, dominated by the terracotta shade, the new identity aims to “improve the recognition and understanding of the appellation, while reflecting the personality of our wines, in order to also reach a new audience”defends Cyril Marès.
See you later, crocodile
Less flashy, the new logo also illustrates the strong choice to definitively set aside the attributes of Nîmes, both in the lesser importance of the lettering and in the abandonment of the palm tree and the crocodile, emblems of the city inherited from the Egyptian campaign of Emperor Augustus. If the cord of the image is cut with the mother city, the connection with the Gard capital remains essential, since it is during the major time of the Pentecost Feria that the new image will be introduced to the general public, via the bodega run by the union. The union bottle also remains unchanged.
On the contrary, the O and the accent of the E take on two strong symbols that the winegrowers of the Gard appellation now want to support. “Note terroir is characterized by a double major influence”unfolds the director of the AOC union Aurélie Pujol, “on one side the strength and minerality of our rolled pebbles, on the other the fresh breath of the sea breezes, which are a strong mark of the only Rhone terroir in direct contact with the sea”.
While the discourse of producers was until now imbued with personal influences ranging from Romanity, to the Rhône, via the Camargue or the Mediterranean, this new identity is intended above all to be a vector of refocusing and belonging around a unique terroir. For the 250 declaring a harvest with claim to the appellation, this new image accompanies the qualitative evolution of a local appellation which produces as many red wines as rosés, for 10% white wines. Ultimately, they also intend to bring to fruition the reflection begun 14 years ago around village names.
